In contrast to almost 60 other nations, including Canada, Mexico will not ban flights from the United Kingdom following the detection of a new coronavirus strain by UK scientists.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez Gatell said the World Health Organization (WHO) has advised that such action is unnecessary since the new variant is already likely to be present in many countries around the world.
One Mexican governor is taking no chances, however. Although no direct flights arrive in Monterrey from the U.K., the governor of the state of Nuevo Leon, Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, says all incoming passengers will be screened and any that have come indirectly from the United Kingdom must be quarantined for 14 days.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Tuesday that the new mutant strain is likely also in the United States, and that a ban on flights from the U.K. was unnecessary.
Studies show that the variant could be up to 70 percent more transmissible, in line with another genetic mutation of the virus recently discovered in South Africa.
As yet, there is no evidence to suggest the new strain is more deadly or that it affects vaccines and treatments.